Films function as visual records of national violence and their inclusion in cinematic archives is crucial to preserve historical memory

25 Feb 2026

This research revisits the discourses surrounding films about the regime of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. It proposes the employment of the “cinematic archive” or films as repositories and contends that films about the Marcos Sr. regime, from 1965 to 2023, must be collected, recorded, and publicly exposed to resist dictatorial control, historical denialism, and distortion. The return of the Marcos family to the Philippine executive branch in 2022 prompted the creation of this research, making it both timely and necessary.

The research examines how fictionalized and propagandistic narratives like Darryl Yap’s movies Maid in Malacañang and Martyr or Murderer revise history to favor the Marcos family. These films contributed to the election of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2022, raising concerns about cinema’s efficacy in documenting and countering the legacy of the Ferdinand Marcos Sr. regime. They erase the political stigma attached to their name, which revises history in favor of the Marcos narrative that attempts to erase the family’s record of corruption, widespread human rights violations, and state-sanctioned violence, contributing to the spread of fake news and disinformation, and weakening the credibility of films that truly account for the Marcos Sr. regime and martial law period.

The study argues that films, like fiction or documentary, serve as visual mementos of national violence and putting them in a cinematic archive is crucial in preserving historical memory. The cinematic archives contain transgenerational dissent, performing political subversion across time, while serving as repositories and performers of dissent and protest against the Marcosian narrative. Ultimately, the research serves as a significant political intervention that positions cinema as both witness and weapon in the struggle against authoritarian forgetting, particularly in these precarious times in Philippine politics. It insists that historical memory must not remain dormant or silenced but instead be activated, circulated, and contested through the medium of film.

Author: John Adrianfer Atienza (Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman)

Read the full paper: https://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/humanitiesdiliman/article/view/10268

Image by Mohamed_hassan from Pixabay

Films function as visual records of national violence and their inclusion in cinematic archives is crucial to preserve historical memory

This research revisits the discourses surrounding films about the regime of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. It proposes the employment of the “cinematic archive” or films as repositories and contends that films about the Marcos Sr. regime, from 1965 to 2023, must be collected, recorded, and publicly exposed to resist dictatorial control, historical denialism, and distortion. The return of the Marcos family to the Philippine executive branch in 2022 prompted the creation of this research, making it both timely and necessary.

The research examines how fictionalized and propagandistic narratives like Darryl Yap’s movies Maid in Malacañang and Martyr or Murderer revise history to favor the Marcos family. These films contributed to the election of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2022, raising concerns about cinema’s efficacy in documenting and countering the legacy of the Ferdinand Marcos Sr. regime. They erase the political stigma attached to their name, which revises history in favor of the Marcos narrative that attempts to erase the family’s record of corruption, widespread human rights violations, and state-sanctioned violence, contributing to the spread of fake news and disinformation, and weakening the credibility of films that truly account for the Marcos Sr. regime and martial law period.

The study argues that films, like fiction or documentary, serve as visual mementos of national violence and putting them in a cinematic archive is crucial in preserving historical memory. The cinematic archives contain transgenerational dissent, performing political subversion across time, while serving as repositories and performers of dissent and protest against the Marcosian narrative. Ultimately, the research serves as a significant political intervention that positions cinema as both witness and weapon in the struggle against authoritarian forgetting, particularly in these precarious times in Philippine politics. It insists that historical memory must not remain dormant or silenced but instead be activated, circulated, and contested through the medium of film.

Author: John Adrianfer Atienza (Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman)

Read the full paper: https://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/humanitiesdiliman/article/view/10268

Image by Mohamed_hassan from Pixabay